Rocks And Minerals
Walter Gommel
Mission Elementary Fourth Grade
Oceanside Unified School District
Walter Gommel
Grade
Mission Elementary
Fourth
Rocks and Minerals
My name is Walter Gommel, and I am a 4th
grade teacher at Mission Elementary in the
Oceanside Unified School District.
My Web site is
http://www.mission.oside.k12.ca.us/wgommel.htm
l
My e-mail is [email protected]
Walter Gommel
Mission Elementary
Fourth Grade
Rocks and Minerals
Expectations
• To learn how to create a web site
• To use technology to help students learn
• To use what I’ve learned to teach others
• To use new software Front Page. Netscape
Composer, Excel, and Power Point
• And to be proficient at using these
Walter Gommel
Grade
Mission Elementary
Fourth
Rocks and Minerals
Outcomes
I learned the following:
• To create an interesting web site
• To upload and download data
• To be proficient at Power Point,
Excel, Front Page, and Netscape
Walter Gommel
Mission Elementary
Fourth Grade
Rocks and Minerals
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Successes
• Students were engaged in the
activities
• Student were Interested in the
Curriculum
• The lesson met CA Science Content
Standards
Walter Gommel
Mission Elementary
Fourth Grade
Rocks and Minerals
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Other Successes
• I learned how to use and be proficient
in Power Point, Netscape Composer, and
Excel.
• I learned how to create a web site.
• I worked with other teachers to share
and gain wonderful ideas on creating my
web site.
Walter Gommel
Mission Elementary
Fourth Grade
Rocks and Minerals
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Other Successes
• Hitting Other Fourth Grade
Standards
• Writing - Language Arts
• Computer Standards for Lang Arts
• Students have to use typing
• Math
Walter Gommel
Mission Elementary
Fourth Grade
Rocks and Minerals
Shortcommings
• Waiting for computers, passing them
out (lack of)
• Waiting to Connect to the internet
• Only ten computers at a time on “Net”
using the Mac Airport
• Teaching students to use the “Net”
• Not enough time during the period
Walter Gommel
Mission Elementary
Fourth Grade
Rocks and Minerals
Student Data
Pr e-Tes t Sco re s
70
60
50
Perce ntag e
40
30
20
10
0
1
2
Low Score
High Score
3
Avera ge
Two percent of the students who took the pre-test
passed. As the graph shows, the high score was a 63%, the
low score was 9%, and the class average was 32%.
Walter Gommel
Mission Elementary
Fourth Grade
Rocks and Minerals
Student Data
Post Test
12 0
10 0
80
60
Series 1
40
20
0
1
2
Low Score
High Scor e
3
Aver age
Sixty-five percent of the students taking the post-test
passed which shows a great improvement from the pre-test.
This time there were some students who earned a 100%.
Walter Gommel
Mission Elementary
Fourth Grade
Rocks and Minerals
Revisions
One of the things I had to really revise was
when we got the laptops, I was totally unprepared
for the amount of extra time it took to spend on
teaching how to care and use the computers. Our
school doesn’t have a computer lab, but brand new
Macintosh ibooks which arrived after the start of the
unit. Then, it took about an extra week to get
connected to the internet using a wireless airport.
Finally, I realized that I needed more time just to
teach the students what they needed to know about
Walter Gommel
Mission Elementary
Fourth Grade
Rocks and Minerals
Summary
This project has really helped me to use more
technology in the classroom. I try to integrate
different kinds of technology applications in my
classroom. This is another, incredible way to use
technology in the classroom. This is a wonderful
way to help students be engaged and excited in
learning the curriculum. The proof is right there on
the students faces when I taught this lesson.
Students were really fascinated and really eager to
come to science. I did not have one student telling
me he/she did not like what they were learning in the
Walter Gommel
Mission Elementary
Fourth Grade
Rocks and Minerals
Personal/Professional Development
What a great way to teach standards base
lessons using technology. In using the internet,
the resources available to teach lessons are
endless. This is an easy way to access any kind
of information at the tip of your finger and never
having to leave your home. I am very excited to
know that I will be able to access other teachers
web sites, and I look forward to using these
resources to teach my students.
Walter Gommel
Mission Elementary
Fourth Grade
Rocks and Minerals
Student Work
The following slides show my
students hard at work at exploring
and using technology to learn about
rocks and minerals.
Walter Gommel
Mission Elementary
Rocks and Minerals
Student Work
Students begin the
unit by writing
what they already
know about rocks
and minerals, then
they discuss what
they wrote, and
finally they write
down what they
want to learn
about rocks and
minerals.
Fourth Grade
Walter Gommel
Mission Elementary
Rocks and Minerals
Student Work
Students are using a pen
flashlight to investigate
whether some minerals are
translucent or opaque. They
will write down their findings
in their science logs.
Fourth Grade
Walter Gommel
Mission Elementary
Rocks and Minerals
Student Work
Students are testing rocks and
minerals for their luster by
putting drops of water on them.
Student will then have to write
their findings in their science
journals.
Fourth Grade
Walter Gommel
Mission Elementary
Rocks and Minerals
Student Work
Students have to use their
senses to investigate rocks
and minerals.
Fourth Grade
Walter Gommel
Mission Elementary
Fourth Grade
Rocks and Minerals
Student Work
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Because of the problem of
only having no more than
ten ibooks using the
internet on the airport base
station, students, three to
four, had to share. But all
the students loved using the
new technology to
investigate valuable
information on the World
Wide Web on rocks and
minerals.
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Walter Gommel
Mission Elementary
Fourth Grade
Rocks and Minerals
Student Work
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Students are hard at work
exploring information on
the World Wide Web about
rocks and minerals using
the new Macintosh ibooks.
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Walter Gommel
Grade
Mission Elementary
Rocks and Minerals
Fourth